Thank you Patrons! (Patreon)

Hi friends!

I wanted to post a little (well, HUGE) thank you message to you all today because it’s #ThankyouPatrons day! I’d like to share a little about my year and all the ways your support has helped me.

I won’t lie, this year has been a hard one! To give you some background, I’ve been self-employed and living off commissions/patreon since I graduated from college. Without the furry community, I would have had to drop out of college all-together — it was only with your support that I could afford living expenses, tuition and everything on top of it. I’ve been independent and paying rent since before I graduated high school and I was told (pretty regularly) that artwork was not going to pay my bills. Now I get to tell all the naysayers their advice was bollocks ;)

But to get to this year, one of the things that often kept me awake at night was taxes. I had no idea how to file, no idea how much I’d have to pay (more than I could afford), and no familial support in terms of what to do. So it was only this past year that I was finally in a position where I could hire an accountant and bite the bullet. It was a pretty big fat bullet too! But I’ve been grinding it out the better part of this year to pay it all back, and I did! In August, my last payment went through for the past 4 years. It was definitely a lesson to me not to avoid things just because they’re scary, cuz they’re a whole lot scarier later, but I feel really good about having climbed on top of it and I couldn’t have done it without you here on Patreon. The regularity and reliability of your support here meant I could come up with a payment plan that was feasible.

That’s really just the tip of the iceberg though in terms of what you’ve given me. Obviously, practically, you’ve given me the ability to pay my bills. Passionately? You’ve given me the ability to work on my art, my writing, my comics. You’ve made it possible for me to spend the majority of my day improving a craft I’ve always loved and wanted to be a major part of my life. If I’d been at a desk job this whole time, my artwork would not be the same, and neither would I.

I wanted to share with you guys because it would not have been remotely possible without your support. Patreon has been a lifeline for me. Not only in that I get to share my comics with you, but I’m in a securer position to handle life’s bumps. I wanted you guys to know just how much this has helped me and how grateful I am.

This year was not all financial crisis, and I have some other (more positive) stories to tell, but this update is long enough so I’ll save it for another day! For now, one last time, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I hope you know how much every $1 means to me and what it means to hear you guys enjoy my work.

Much much love,

Demi